Contents

Arch user blogs about the x121e

Power saving options for the x121e

In /etc/rc.conf, add acpi-cpufreq to the MODULES array to enable CPU frequency scaling. If you use laptop-mode-tools, that's enough. Otherwise, add the governor you want to use, too e.g. cpufreq_ondemand.

Then add the following to the DAEMONS array:

either laptop-mode or cpufreq

acpid

sensors (if you want to monitor fan speed, temperature etc.)

thinkpad_acpi should be loaded automatically. Check this with lsmod | grep think.

Warning: Do not add these options without checking them out first as they may cause problems depending on your setup. Be prepared to disable them as necessary.

If using laptop-mode-tools stops your machine from shutting down while on battery power, try the solution described in this thread.

tp_smapi does not currently support the x121e and is apparently not likely to do so in the foreseeable future. Apparently the x121e is not quite a "real" ThinkPad.

Bluetooth

Getting bluetooth enabled can be a bit tricky. If bluetooth doesn't work or stops working and cannot be unblocked by rfkill, check first that it is enabled in the BIOS. If that isn't the problem, you may need a BIOS upgrade (see below).

Even after a BIOS upgrade, it seems that bluetooth may stop working in some cases. For example, changing the RAM in my machine seems to result in a hard block which rfkill can't touch even though bluetooth is enabled in BIOS. Repeating the post-bios-upgrade procedure of loading the default BIOS settings, booting and then redoing your custom settings seems to help. (I don't know if the reboot with the default settings is actually needed or if loading the defaults, saving them and then re-customising would be enough.) If you do this, remember that you may need to re-add grub to your boot menu to get everything working normally again. (This applies to GRUB2, at least.)

Arch Forums x121e related threads

Some people experience difficulties booting if their disk is partitioned using a GPT partition map. The correct way to avoid this problem is to ensure that the EFI partition is at least 512M. The UEFI wiki page now includes this instruction. If for some bizarre reason you do not wish to do this, it may work to use a GPT partition map, UEFI boot and a fat 16 formatted EFI partition (this violates UEFI spec but may have the advantage of actually working). See https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=131149 and https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=133074.

If bluetooth doesn't work or stops working and cannot be unblocked by rfkill, check that it is enabled in the BIOS. If that's not the problem, a BIOS upgrade may help. See https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=137346. If that doesn't help either, boot to BIOS, reload the defaults, reconfigure BIOS and reboot. Note that this will wipe any entries in the EFI boot menu. (If anybody knows a less annoying way, please comment!)